WindowOn... Shopper StockTake 2019

insight|analysis|information|trends|reviews|knowledge|statistics

We show you how to turn shoppers into buyers

Brought to you by

www.shoppercentric.com

This report is based on: 1090 online interviews among a nationally representative sample of UK shoppers aged 16+.

Research was conducted December 2018 in conjunction with Populus

Turning ISSUE ISSUE shoppers 32 32 into buyers PUBLISHED BY: Shoppercentric

EDITOR: Lisa Hutchinson DESIGN: Mike Higgs

e: mikehiggs@mac.com We welcome ideas for future articles and reports. Guidelines on our preferred format and style are available from info@shoppercentric.com

Š Shoppercentric 2019 All copyright is vested in Shoppercentric unless expressly stated otherwise. No permission is granted for reproduction, use or adaptation of the material, save as to provide for under Statute, and any such use must be accompanied by the appropriate accreditation.

Welcome...

Jamie Rayner,

Managing Director, Shoppercentric

Cast your minds forward to 2030.

There yet...?

Ok, some simple questions: How old will you be?

What will your family be doing? Where will you live?

Now tell me: What will you do for fun? How might you travel? What might you eat? How might you buy things?

Easy questions? Maybe. It depends on what happens, you say. How quickly will internet shopping advance? Will AI start to have a meaningful impact on the job market? Are these the right questions?

Whatever your thoughts, it would be prudent to be thinking about the potential impact of the trends that we are seeing. Being there to identify, measure and track shopping behaviour is a tricky business and this is what we do here at Shoppercentric.

Trends Research...

The future of retail

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We take a look into the crystal ball of the future of retail.

Changing shopper habits

4

Do convenience stores need to change?

Is it all about price?

6

There are other factors that are driving the success of the Discounters.

The shoppers of the future

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Our Gen Z shoppers are a demanding bunch!

If we think about the purchase of products from varying purchase channels – the only thing that a shopper is likely to see: is a change in execution.

What is the change you would need to make to capture new consumers? For example, these changes could be where consumers buy the product, how they buy it, how the product looks, how it is communicated or how it is delivered.

MindTrace A new, easy way of accurately measuring neurological response.

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In this issue we flag up some changes happening today through our annual self-funded Shopper Stock Take survey and we’ve taken the liberty to look a bit further out to contemplate the future. We sincerely hope that this edition might confirm some beliefs that you have seen for yourselves, but equally challenge you to think beyond what today holds.

2030 How will shopper behaviour change in the future?

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We don’t intend to die wondering.

We hope you don’t either!

THOUGHT PIECE

Regular Features...

The BIG Picture...

A View from the High Street An Experts Own View Shopper Talk...

Out & About...

10 18 19 20 20

Written by

Danielle Pinnington danielle@shoppercentric.com

The future of retail At Shoppercentric we have always focused on understanding the shopper perspective, whilst being fully appreciative of the commercial context of the retail sector. So, as we take a look into the crystal ball of the future of retail we have been struck by a key thought: whilst retailers and brand manufacturers succeed or fail by the degree to which they can convince shoppers to use their channels and buy their products, their commercial strategies at this point in time are potentially directly at odds with the needs of today’s shoppers. There should be no differentiation between, for example, e-commerce vs other types, it’s just plain commerce. The boundaries between online and physical retail are blurring due to online ordering and in-store pickup.

Figure 1: Shoppers expectations of retailers – Total % stating critically important (scoring 9-10 out of 10) 55 52 45 40 39 37 34 24 23 22 20 18 14 14 12 11 7

Good quality fresh produce Competitive prices Treated with respect Cheapest prices Good choice from budget to top end brands Great service Stress free shopping experience A good reputation for ethical initiatives Ways to help me save time Good range of ethical products Feel like I'm being listened to Look for ways to make my life easier Strongly involved with community Made to feel happy / good about myself Proactive in helping me adopt better habits Ideas / inspiration Help me learn new things

Q Here is a list of things other shoppers have said they expect from the shops/online retailers they use to buy their groceries. For each statement please allocate a score out of ten, where 10 means it’s of critical importance to you and 1 means it doesn’t matter at all.

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The digitisation of shopping is high on the agenda of many retailers and brand manufacturers alike, as is clear from the media coverage of Black Friday and the post-Christmas retail results. We can experience it as we make our payments through apps rather than reaching for our purses. And we can sense it in the strategies behind flagship store developments such as the Nike NYC shop that features on our centre spread.

The opportunity that digital technology offers to retailers and brands could well be infinite, since there is so much more to come that hasn’t even been thought of yet. But we must beware the siren call of technology for technology’s sake.

We’ve seen so many examples of this, on so many occasions in the recent past, including:

if technology doesn’t have a purpose from the shopper’s perspective then it really will be the proverbial emperor’s new clothes

l In-store TV – the ‘new media channel’

launched by Tesco and Asda in 2004 that failed at the first hurdle l QR codes – which have taken

approximately 8 years to find their purpose l AR – which promised so much, and still

hasn’t delivered on that promise If there’s one thing we’ve learnt here at Shoppercentric, it’s that if technology doesn’t have a purpose from the shopper’s perspective then it really will be the proverbial emperor’s new clothes. Just because you can digitise, doesn’t necessarily mean you should. At the core of your planning should be a clear view of the role the technology plays for the shopper – not just the brand or the retailer.

Shoppers themselves aren’t necessarily looking for high tech ways of shopping. If it makes life easier for them, then yes of course they will adopt it. But at the end of the day they care more about quality, price and service than they do about a stress-free shopping experience (see fig 1), which is arguably what digitisation is designed to achieve. And if those three desired basics of retail aren’t being delivered, no amount of fancy tech will make the experience good enough for them to come back.

Arguably the biggest challenge for retailers in 2019 isn’t the online vs physical shop ‘war’, but the promiscuity of shopper repertoires. When shoppers have so many retail choices, how do you make sure your retail offer gets a decent share of their spend?

The answer is what it has always been – make sure you deliver against shoppers needs.

This means really understanding the purchase journey in order to reflect actual shopper needs in your retail environment. You might be surprised to find that a simple change in store or website layout, or a re-vamp of your packaging has more impact on sales than a digital solution. Or you might find that you do have a digital solution and armed with shopper understanding you know how to maximise the impact. Without the understanding you could well end up with a solution for a non-existent need.

One thing we can all agree on in the world of retail is that everything is changing! The future will be different, but success will always be based on persuading shoppers to buy.

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Written by

Sarah Lacey sarahl@shoppercentric.com

Changing shopping habits One of the big trends in the grocery sector in recent years has been the growth of the convenience sector, as shoppers’ habits have changed.

Instead of copying our parents’ focus on that weekly or fortnightly main shop, we have adapted our grocery shopping patterns to fit around our busy schedules, picking up grocery items as, when and where we can.

Just as savvy grocery retailers rode the convenience wave, opening more and more small format stores, there was a growth in little and often shopping habits which for some shoppers meant completely rejecting the weekly or fortnightly big trolley shop. This little and often behaviour has been adopted by 15% of shoppers in the UK – a sizeable share of the grocery market.

Figure 1: Channels used for grocery shopping in last month (% shown) 82

79

83 85

2016 (1000)

2017 (1108)

2018 (1020)

2019 (1090)

Q Which of these grocery shops or online retailers have you visited in the last month for your grocery/ household shopping?

66 57 43 44

47 49 45 39 28 29 30 27

9 6 8 7 Supermarkets

4

Discounters

C-Stores

Online

Local Specialists

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NA NA NA 2 Subscriptions/ Deliveries

Shopper behaviours driving larger store repertoires 1 in 3 shoppers agree that they:

1 in 4 shoppers agree that they:

l ‘split grocery shopping across different

l ‘tend to fit grocery shopping in where /

stores / online retailers, buying different things in different places’ l ‘switch between different stores / online

when I can’ l ‘shop a wider variety of stores / online

retailers now than I used to’

retailers based on what I need to buy – I know the best places to get what I want’

There are signs, however, that the convenience wave has well and truly hit the beach (see fig 1).

At first glance it seems the small format C-store channel has become another victim of the rampant popularity of the Discounters, who themselves have pursued aggressive store opening strategies.

Or is it that convenience means something else for today’s shoppers? In the past we tended to think of convenience as being about location and immediacy – to the extent that shoppers were prepared to suck up higher prices, knowing there was a trade-off to be made. Now, however, online shopping is arguably more convenient in terms of location and immediacy, especially if you sign up to a service like Amazon Prime and access 1 hour delivery slots. Is a store convenient if you can’t park outside, or struggle to find what you want because the layout or category signage is poor, or are forced to buy a 2 ltr bottle of cola because that’s all they stock?

We also need to factor in the growing desire for a positive retail experience. Increasingly shoppers are articulating the expectation that they will only make the effort to visit stores that provide a good experience: great bargains; interesting / unusual ranges; friendly / knowledgeable service; easy to shop; inspiration; or time saving. Given the average UK shopper visits 4 different grocery brands a month, and shops for groceries 5 times a fortnight, they know a good and a bad experience when they see it.

If those small format stores that we think of as convenience stores aren’t actually any more convenient, or offering as good an experience, as all the other options available, is it any wonder shoppers aren’t using them as often as they used to? In which case, what was a strength in the retailer’s armoury is now at risk of being a millstone, unless they can be re-purposed to better reflect changing shopping habits.

Perhaps one solution is to stop using the phrase convenience stores - instead calling them small format stores. This might feel like semantics, but a deliberate change of name can lead to a conscious change in thinking, which is what is required to keep this ‘channel’ relevant to shoppers. The opportunity is there. Small stores are easier to adapt than supermarkets or hypermarkets. They can be the flexible face of the brand reflecting local rather than national habits, able to develop real, community level relationships with shoppers. But this does take a shift in strategy. Retailers need to move on from ‘convenience’, because that phrase is no longer a point of difference.

Change is possible, but again it takes a real understanding of shoppers needs, this time at a local level.

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Written by

Sarah Banks sarahb@shoppercentric.com

Is it all about price?

Industry figures for the third quarter of 2018 revealed a 10% growth in the Discounters’ share of grocery sales. Our own figures showed that during December, 2 in 3 UK shoppers had shopped in Discounter stores in the last month. So, you could be forgiven for assuming that UK grocery shopping patterns are all about price, and you wouldn’t be alone, given Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco all revealed major price discounts in January 2019.

The major multiples know they can’t take their slice of the pie for granted, but by defaulting to price as the solution they chase short term impact at the cost of long term stability.

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Intellectual involvement

Figure 1

ure eas Pl

Where do I adore, enjoy?

Where can I see new and exciting things?

What can I carry/load in one shop? Where can I go to save physical effort?

Pr ic

Fragmentation Drivers

P ort

Functional rewards

Proximi ty

Emotional rewards

ion cis

How can I make the savings work in my favour? Where are the best deals this week?

e

Pr e

What do I really want that I can’t get elsewhere?

Which stores consistently stock my critical products?

a b ilit y

What choices are near me? Which saves me time and hassle?

Experiential involvement If only it were that simple. In reality the UK grocery market is defined by far more than a single issue.

The fact is that whilst the Discounters are clearly differentiated from the competition because of their focus on price, their growth is also as a result of their aggressive store opening strategies making them more accessible, combined with UK shoppers’ willingness to widen their store repertoires. Without the benefit of these additional factors, the rise of the Discounters would have stalled. The fact that 9 out of 10 Discounter shoppers are also shopping in the major multiples confirms that it is not all about price for these shoppers.

The best chance that more established retailers have in challenging the Discounters is to identify and play to their own strengths, in order to defend their role in shoppers repertoires. Shoppers no longer rely on retailers because of an outdated sense of loyalty - the average shopper repertoire is now 4 grocery retailers a month. The major multiples know they can’t take their slice of the pie for granted, but by defaulting to price as the solution they chase short term impact at the cost of long term stability.

There is an argument that brands should be playing a significant role in helping established retailers challenge the growth of the Discounters.

In fact if we look at the way local specialists are returning to favour, we have a real example of how a focused approach to differentiating from the competition can deliver results. During the recession it seemed that local specialist stores were in terminal decline as a significant number of indies were forced out of business. Fast forward to 2019 and local specialists are on the up, having increased their role in shopper repertoires from 6% to 9% in the last 4 years.

With larger store repertoires, shoppers are showing their willingness to shop around, to actively shop the options available to them in order to meet specific needs. We’ve identified 5 repertoire drivers (see fig 1), each of which offer retailers a point of difference. Yes, price is one of these, but there are others that can be equally as influential, and importantly could help under pressure retailers get out of the race to the lowest price point.

Retail is changing fast, shoppers are driving that change, just as much as they are responding to changing retail environments. It takes focus and clarity to keep up, and that is perhaps the biggest challenge that today’s retailers face if they are to maintain their share of the market.

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Written by

Tim Baker tim@shoppercentric.com

The shoppers of the future We couldn’t take a view on the future of shopping without looking at the shoppers of the future – those aged 18-24 who are just beginning to get to grips with managing household budgets, and who bring a fresh perspective on shopping environments and channels. This is the cohort for whom online shopping is the norm, and who have spent their formative years through the screen of a mobile phone. For them it isn’t so much a revolution as a way of life, even before they have a household budget to spend.

Figure 1: Primary touchpoints used to shop in the last month – Total vs Gen Z (% shown) Q Thinking about ALL the types of shopping you do for yourself and your household, please tick all that you have used in the last month in any way when conducting these types of shopping activities.

Computer / Laptop Smartphone Staff Tablet Catalogues Digital screen Smart TV Smart speaker Wearable Dash None of these

8

38

5 3 2 2 1

8

21

23 Total Gen Z

6

4

3 4

2 17

21

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49 53

26

17 12

47

This difference is clear when we look at the ways in which they shop (see fig 1). They are much more likely to use mobile phones when shopping, and more likely to have naturally engaged new technologies for shopping, for example wearables and smartspeakers such as Alexa and Google+.

They are also more likely to expect to use a range of devices as part of their shopping in the future (see fig 2). Digital screen manufacturers in particular will be encouraged by the emphasis this group place on their kit in terms of future use. What’s more, the shoppers of the future are more likely to access promotions via their smartphones – 32% vs 19% total sample.

To really make the most of the opportunity, however, retailers and manufacturers need to be delivering the type of content and experiences that appeal to this age group. They aren’t just digital savvy: having grown up in this environment it’s not surprising to find considerable evidence that they are a cynical and demanding bunch! Shopping per se is also not the be-all and end-all: they are

more likely than shoppers in general to fit shopping around the activities and routines that are important to them, to expect retailers to proactively help them adopt better habits, and to blame today’s higher prices on Brexit.

That said, they are just as likely to use bricks & mortar stores as shoppers in general. Perhaps surprisingly only 1 in 10 say they use online shopping most often for their groceries, with supermarkets being their preferred channel.

So whilst they are likely to lead the uptake of new technologies in retail, they could be just as appreciative of excellent real store experiences.

The combination of their digital savviness alongside their appreciation of physical stores could help you make a step change in your future of retail thinking.

But the age old mantra remains the same: the retailer must understand and fit the shopper’s need and not expect the shopper to adapt to the retailer.

The ever more urgent requirement is to understand those needs when even the shopper themselves may not know what it is.

Figure 2: Use of touchpoints in the future - % Total Q Which do you think you will use more often as part of your shopping habits in the future?

And which do you think you will use less often as part of your shopping habits in the future?

Computer / Laptop Smartphone Staff Tablet Catalogues Digital screen Smart TV Smart speaker Wearable Dash

38 38

15

4 5 3 2 2

8 8

51

18

8 6

42

17

14

Total Gen Z

7 6

5

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10

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thebigpicture

By Oliver Brien (16 yrs)

Nike I love Nike. I’m always checking news on the latest trainer drop, so I was really looking forward to visiting the new NYC flagship store, especially as I could use my Nike app to pay. I was even wearing my new UK exclusive trainers.

The creative centre looked good although you have to be organized enough to book and we all know teens can’t do that! The shoe zone did a great job of showing off the trainers, if you could get close amongst the crowds.

But I had a big problem with this store - the app wouldn’t work. I had the app and an armful of clothes I wanted, but I just couldn’t work out the transaction.

After getting annoyed trying I gave up and found a member of staff – talk about old fashioned shopping. He not only complimented me on my trainers (đ&#x;˜Š ) he took my money (đ&#x;˜Š ) and showed me how the app works... I hadn’t turned on the location.

It was a great store – but given the fuss about the app I was really disappointed it didn’t just work. Nike – you know I’m in your store, I shouldn’t need to turn on location!

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THOUGHT PIECE Written by Jon Darby jon@shoppercentric.com

Knowing what you feel – no It’s not only the world of retail that is heading digital, the world of market research is too! Behavioural Economics has been telling us for years about the impact of question ordering, wording and length. It cautions us about making assumptions over understanding, interpretation and values. It famously introduced us to System 1/System 2 thinking and counselled us against asking direct questions. It has also introduced us to concepts that further challenge the design of reliable research processes such as Framing, Priming, Choice Architecture, Heuristics, Change Blindness and Context. It has raised all these concerns and complexities but has failed to offer any effective means of addressing them.

Now however, in a global exclusive partnership with MindTrace, we have developed a unique system that measures System 1 response without asking a single question. This uses behavioural measures that closely reflect neurological response.

Neurological response is involuntary, occurring outside the conscious control of the individual and it has been proven to be an accurate predictor of behaviour. It has been long established that humans start acting before they are consciously aware they are going to: we are neurologically active before we are consciously active. As the body moves into action (in response to a stimulus) the conscious mind catches up and starts to interpret the action, giving reason and meaning to it.

Market research interventions have traditionally only occurred at the conscious thought point,

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missing the moment at which the action begins.

Now, however, we are able to measure this initial neurological response accurately and at a respondent’s convenience.

Chiefly, for our purposes, neurological response is expressed as fixations (when the eye pauses on an object / image for at least 60 milliseconds) and core micro-emotional (shorter than 500 milliseconds) responses (there are 7 global core emotions which are expressed in the same way regardless of nationality, ethnicity or race). While simply asking a respondent to look at an idea, an image, a brand, a website, anything that can be displayed on a computer screen, we measure these factors. To go even further we also measure heart rate, a more transient measure of excitement. All in the comfort of the respondent’s own home.

WO Issue 32 | Shopper Stock Take 2019

questions asked!

From this, we can tell you: l How they feel about what they are seeing

(by individual emotion and overall positivity) l How engaged they are with it l Areas / parts that attract the most attention,

visually and emotionally (these may be different!) l Which parts are the more / less engaging l In what way (emotionally) each part is

engaging (or not) Which, in turn, enables us to give insight and direction starting at a broad, multiple design level through to granular exploration of single designs and how they can be optimised: l What works and doesn’t (elements,

themes, colours, images etc) l Where to change things, and in what way l Which routes are the best to take l Relative potential performance levels

Additional questions can be tabled, chiefly to add context and insight to the results. We know, for example, that well-known brands can be accounted for in parafoveal vision: knowing it receives relatively few fixations is therefore not a big issue, but it can be reassuring to check brand awareness more directly.

Sample sizes do not need to be large: 20-30 respondents per research cell is sufficient as we are collecting neurological rather than attitudinal responses. Above these sample sizes and data becomes repetitive.

Small sample sizes also mean the research can be timely: from receipt of all material we aim to have results within 10 working days (including programming).

MindTrace is a significant leap forward in research capability. It delivers accurate measures of neurological response without the need for costly technology, centralised location or laboratory environments. Run at home, on equipment that is the respondent’s, the measurements are taken in a natural environment which enhances the quality and validity of data collected.

If you would like to find out more about MindTrace please drop a note to mindtrace@shoppercentric.com

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2030 14

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THOUGHT PIECE Written by Jamie Rayner jamie@shoppercentric.com

Whilst clearing out some paper work in the summer I stumbled across an old magazine cutting attempting to predict the future of retail. The year of the prediction was 2004. It commented on how fridges would be in control of keeping stock of the fresh items we need on a daily basis. No intervention required. It went on to say that even the process of internet shopping would be an old and laboured approach to stocking up. Some 15 years on I don’t believe we are quite there yet on mass consumer adoption of smart fridges.

Consumer adoption vs acceptance

At the heart of any exercise around futures lies the ability to predict when consumer adoption of the next ‘winner’ will occur. Time and time again we see that the acceptance of change always ‘outpaces’ adoption: Even if the consumer or shopper recognises ‘new’ and the retailers gear themselves up to deliver (e.g. ability to pay by Apple) the likelihood that new behaviours are adopted and actioned is always a lot slower and more haphazard.

Predicting technology

We know that technology plays a massive role in the art of the possible but predicting technological change is notoriously difficult, even over the short term. The World Bank and IMF only forecast a few years into the future for economic growth and stress a high degree of uncertainty on this timeframe. Therefore, this magazine is not designed to predict the future, but to stimulate strategic thinking and present some thoughts based on our extensive experience of brands and the retail environments in which they exist. story continues

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2030 Choice

According to a paper written by Thales S. Teixeira, 2014 at the Harvard Business School, it has been estimated that the cost of attention has increased dramatically (seven‐to-nine‐fold) in the last two decades. The point that Teixeira is making means that consumers are exposed to an ever-increasing amount of information which of course, they are unable to process. It’s becomes even harder and costlier for those trying to influence.

As choice has proliferated shoppers have just tended to simplify their repertoire and seek choice reassurance. This is not new news but what is still a ‘relatively’ new layer in our shopping evolution is that we have technology able to find, remember, anticipate, recommend, remind, analyse, manage, measure and monitor our shopping behaviour for us. Which in turn allows more personalised attention seeking advertising (fueled by machine learning) aimed directly at us and our proclivities.

And all available at the tip of your fingers... not even the ‘click of a button’.

This has profound implications for the way in which brands will need to be re-engineered or built and how they are accessed via available purchase channels.

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Shopper needs won’t change but behaviours will.

What is for sure, shopper needs are fundamentally the same globally, across all categories: the shopping process needs to save the shopper time, money and angst. These “Three Shopping Currencies” as outlined by Dr. Herb Sorenson must be integral elements to the understanding and design of solutions. These factors ultimately shape where shoppers go and what they buy. That is clearly changing.

Gatekeeper evolution in the value chain the winners will take all.

More progressive companies, such as Amazon, are ahead of the bricks and mortars providers with fast delivery options (Prime, Pantry), subscription ordering (Dash), and are already two years into their trial of drone deliveries in cooperation with the UK government and the Civil Aviation Authority, announced in 2016. Similarly, companies such as Ubereats, Deliveroo, Just Eat continue their march offering almost instantaneous cash free service delivery (Uber with taxi services and Deliveroo with food delivery from a wide network of restaurants employing a network of cyclists to ensure the delivery is not stuck in traffic).

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And the future promises to be even more dynamic with digital solutions intended to enhance the shopper experience: facial recognition, Big Data, the Internet of Things, drones, RFID technology, wearable technology, augmented technology, self-drive cars, 3D printing... the list goes on.

These solutions could be ‘hype’ words, but they are all either already in use (such as Apple watches, Boeing using 3D printing to produce parts and components), or in the plans of the world’s top companies: Google and Facebook testing virtual reality and L’Oreal working to print human skin for product testing.

In the fast-paced, connected world of the modern shopper, core shopper needs will not change but expectations will be higher and they will demand a more contextual shopper experience – what they want, when they want it, where they want it and with transparent price options. We believe that the winners in this new playground will be those who can provide the best shopper experience.

The opportunity to own pre-purchase decisions.

Moving to the future, brands and retailers must try to own the pre-purchase process and decision by developing innovative ways to facilitate missionrelevant product offerings. This means being the gatekeeper(s) for shoppers need to be able to facilitate what they want, when they want it, how they want it and how they would like to receive it.

If the brand can get it right, core shopper needs will be satisfied and new shopper behaviours enabled - and loyalty can grow this way. As much through the interaction with the software as the physical brand itself.

Platforms and partners.

In this rapid path of digitalisation, it’s brands that might see some of the biggest fundamental challenges about how they are created, developed and delivered. Not addressing personalisation, co-creation, delivering experience will for sure, plant the offenders in the commodity box. And maybe that’s a conscious choice for some manufacturers, for parts of their portfolios.

Today’s environment of interaction with products means that we are quickly moving from the intangible world of brand assets to known, tangible things. This is in part led by the democratisation of knowledge and information. Consumers are able to share and compare and know the performance of products and it shapes how we think about brands.

Online grocery shoppers are offered product recommendations or other matched product suggestions. Our machine - learnt behaviours in on-line shopping is led by the key tenets laid down by our previous behaviours for other products and services originally accessed in this space.

Of course, brand choices will still be made on emotional not pure rational grounds. But the way in which the memory structures are built up for brands will be different: not only will they be more digitally influenced but also much more in the control of the consumer. Our connections with brands will be as much about how we access them via platforms and their commercial partners as they are about the experience that the brands can provide. It’s this experience in the physical space that retailers and brands need to work together on now.

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A VI E W FROM THE H IGH ST R EET BANKING ON THE FUTURE Love what you do and do what you love. This would seem to be the mantra for Peter and Sarah Brook, a dynamic couple who recently converted a disused high street bank into a bookstore with a difference. BrOOK’S is a sophisticated, curious haven filled with carefully curated books, quality coffee + wine, light food, comfortable sofas and a light buzz in the air.

So where did it all start? The duo has a collective history in global marketing, brand experience and HR, not to mention a shared love of books and wine. “For us, it’s all about how it feels to be here” says Peter with Sarah adding “we felt it was essential to integrate the books with the café and the seating, so people can connect with each other”. The striking, warm interior certainly feels inviting and more like coming home than going out.

www.brookspinner.com Re-connecting is a wider theme for Peter who sees the most successful brands and high streets working to engage and build a better experience for their customers. But it’s not all comfy sofas and great reading. Commercially, the team has had to be smart to avoid the traps of conventional high street retail. The store is open late into the evenings, has a strong reach on Twitter and has invested in mobile furniture to flex the layout, keeping the experience fresh and hosting large or small events.

In just 4 months this nimble, future focussed business has made waves. “We knew we had to be more than a bookshop to create a future for our high street and for our business” with Peter adding “some customers visit on different occasions with different shopper missions, for example, buying a book or having a glass of wine with friends, which is exactly what we had hoped our mixed-occasion approach would deliver”. It certainly sounds like the locals love what this book-loving couple do and consider it a future worth banking on too.

Peter & Sarah Brook opened their combined café, bookshop and bar in Pinner, London in August 2018

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An experts own view Angus Maciver is Non-Executive Director at McCurrah having previously held the position of CEO and prior to that high-profile Marketing roles at Morrisons, P+G, PepsiCo and Prudential.

Fortune-telling is not what springs to mind when building world class brands, but in our opinion Angus Maciver has a knack for understanding what makes brands and retail environments futurefit. So, what does he see on the cards?

While the world of grocery retail feels increasingly online, Angus says shoppers will continue to demand smaller, physical stores and weaker brands will have to fight hard to stay on these ‘shrinking’ shelves. Larger retailers will need to recalibrate to a local mindset with customers wanting to meet and experience the true brand.

Angus referenced the now familiar Vegan trend as just one of many tangibles on our collective quest for truth in our brands, habitats, ingredients, politics and culture.

So, if ‘real is the new deal’ for both retailers and brands, this means buying may continue to move online, but brand experiences will become deeper offline. As Angus points out, Rapha, ‘The world’s finest cycling brand’, sells most of its products online but the stores provide a place of worship over coffee

and Tour de France footage. The supermarkets of the future will also start to reframe their role from stockist to host – why not enjoy a cookery class while someone else picks out your groceries?

Of course, the global brand giants will continue to provide a backbone of household products but even the staple brands can be rattled by new entrants such as Fever Tree - a well- known success story shaking up the mixers market off the back of a gin revolution.

Angus doesn’t need a crystal ball to see the biggest challenge will be for retailers and brands to work together to create deeper experiences. Sure, retailers will host these spaces, but the brands can make or break the party. Coffee shops won’t be the solution for all but working together to develop a genuine pull to walk (or cycle) into a store makes everyone’s day a little brighter and creates that all important reason to come back in the future.

Clubhouses | Rapha – Also home to the local chapter of the Rapha Cycling Club

WO Issue 32 | Shopper Stock Take 2019

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Out & about

and in the press...

Real words from the high street.

Brought to you by the keen ears of the Shoppercentric team...

I’m certainly not against going online but I quite enjoy the shopping experience to tell you the truth. I’ve got a girlfriend now – she’s quite a bargain hunter as well, so we like to go and have a little root around!

In my life I willingly buy a pint, and I don’t think that’s expensive – you’re looking at about £5. So, anything (in any other category) that’s under a fiver is ok by me!

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Future proofing...

If you are interested in challenging your future plans or even building one further out than the next financial planning horizon, why not try our

2030 workshop

We would custom build the workshop for your team and business.

Please contact us on hello@shoppercentric.com

We tweeted...

We’ve been talking @boohoo results with @BBCRadioWales this morning – with +44% revenue growth to discuss, it was a change of scene from the high street and Brexit!

WO Issue 32 | Shopper Stock Take 2019

We are speaking at...

As we launch this special issue Danielle is taking the report to POPAI’s Retail Marketing Conference on 7th February to share our findings and be part of the voice to share the knowledge of how shopper behaviour is changing.

So what?

A key theme across this edition has been the need to put shoppers at the heart of future planning. They are not just reacting to what we present to them in store or on-line, they are pro-actively changing their habits and behaviours to fit shopping around their increasingly busy and stressful lives.

The successes of the future will come when retailers, brands and design teams look to provide solutions to shoppers real needs, in order to ensure that the retail industry of the future can deliver as follows: l Delivering positive shopping experiences l Meeting shoppers changing expectations l Flexing to changing shopper missions and needs l Resolving shoppers frustrations Keeping your finger on the shopper pulse has never been more important to your future success.

Happy shoppers don’t just smile, they spend, and they come back for more.

WO Issue 32 | Shopper Stock Take 2019

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ISSUE ISSUE

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thelastword...

We thought we’d let our clients have the last word by telling you what they think of us...

Thanks! Love the new headline charts, you’ve done my job for me!

Customer Researcher, Retailer

Sharing in-store changes: Plenty of work still to do and it isn’t yet perfect, but it is a good start. Your work was a very big help. Thank you!

Head of Category & Insight, Manufacturer

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I just wanted to say I was really pleased with the presentation. The team got some great insights, and you came across really well.

Thank you!

Insight Manager, Manufacturer

I really appreciate your hard work over the last few months. My view is that we’re building a really successful partnership and thank you for dealing with the teething problems of these early relationships!

Insight Manager, Manufacturer

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01993 223 223 info@shoppercentric.com www.shoppercentric.com